Cogs
by spectacled spiderhunter
Summary: Loki has a plan. Do you see it? - Drabbles.
1. Loki, Thanos

_"Freedom is life's great lie."_

* * *

It is. It is. Think it, think it, _thinkit_._ I should rule/ they should bow/ a glorious purpose/ freedom a lie, a lie, lie lie – ( _the man Fury leads, he must live_)- freedom a lie, I am nothing, hail Thanos, hail -_

The presence lifts.

You allow yourself a moment's relief under the harsh light. Harsh, but so much kinder than the dark.

The presence will return, this you know. They do not trust you, but they believe you broken. And you are, perhaps. Oh you_ are_.

But you can lie. Yes, you can lie. And lie.

And _you will._


	2. Thor

_"I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. _I remember you tossing me into an abyss_. I was and should be king!"_

* * *

Thor remembers a yell like helpless thunder in his throat, the way Loki's hand relaxed – joint by joint – , and space.

Loki lies.

It should not surprise him so, that Loki will say anything to wound. He does not know his brother anymore and it is grieving again, it is grief every time he sees Loki alive, and whole, and not like Loki.

To say Thor tossed him? That he would have _ever_ -

Loki lies, and he keeps _looking_ at Thor, as if there is something Thor ought to understand, and Thor doesn't, he doesn't, he _doesn't_.


	3. Loki 2

_"You're gonna lose."_

_"Am I?"_

* * *

"You lack conviction," the human says, and for an instant - the time that it takes for a hummingbird to beat its wings once - you freeze. He _knows_. How can he – ?

Ah, but here is a man who watches and sees, like Heimdall, he is a gate-keeper. The man guesses and he _must not guess_, must not understand. This is a man who watches but does not see all, not enough, and with only a small part of the picture will bring about its ruin.

Phil Coulson falls and you think, _if you knew, this is what you would choose._


	4. Tony

"_And you've pissed off all of them." _

"_That was the plan." _

* * *

Tony owns mirrors, plenty of them. Egotist, remember?

So he recognizes that look, mind moving fast enough to reverse gravity, enough that you don't know down from up yourself. Tap-dancing on a wrecking ball, building fucking _grenades_ on thin ice. Fast enough - maybe then it won't all go to hell, but when it does it will be _your_ hell, and there is a difference.

If you're thinking thirteen things at once, who's to say what you really feel, even you?

So yeah, Tony knows that look, but that doesn't mean he trusts it.


	5. Fury

_"The Chitauri grow restless."_

_"Let them go at themselves. I will lead them into glorious battle. "_

* * *

Convenient enough for Earth that Loki knew fuck-all about leading an army. Bottleneck invasion? At least humanity fucking learns.

Thor makes some noise about honorable battle tactics, facing the enemy head-on or some bull-shit. Nick's never had the luxury of honor.

"Many times Loki called me a fool for charging headlong into battle," Thor says during one debriefing. "His own methods were more subtle and sly, though rarely did we heed his advice as he cared little for the glory of honest combat."

That makes_ no damn sense_.

Suddenly, Nick doesn't like this at all.


	6. Clint

_"You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."_

* * *

The Boss is in bad shape. Shadows under his eyes, and when Clint touches his arm, the Boss nearly suffocates him against a wall.

The Boss doesn't want to talk about it. That's fine, Clint's been there before too. It's not his place to worry, but he finds himself hoping the Boss has a Natasha to share the memories with.

The Boss hasn't slept yet. Clint's pretty sure he's afraid to dream.

That's fine. They'll be ruling the world soon. Then maybe the Boss can get a good night's sleep.


	7. Selvig

"_It's not your fault. You didn't know what you were doing."_

"_Well, actually I think I did." _

* * *

Later, he'll try to find a fitting metaphor. _A song_, he'll say. _Like a harp, a galaxy of harps, plucking strings of music against my mind_. He dreams he conducts an orchestra: viola, oboe, the strange kazoo.

Barton has taken to roosting above while Erik works, silently stringing and re-stringing his bow. "How did you do it?" he says suddenly. "Resist him. How did you . . . – I couldn't."

"_Leave a safety_," the kazoo tells him in his dreams. "_Wouldn't that be wise_?"

"I don't know," Erik says. "Sometimes. Sometimes, I don't think I _did_."


	8. Natasha

"_So, Banner... that's your play."_

* * *

Natasha knows she was compromised at the time. She also knows that is no excuse - there's_ never_ an excuse.

In retrospect, the Hulk couldn't have been Loki's primary objective. At most, the Hulk could have caused the total destruction of the Helcarrier and Loki's release. But Loki proved himself capable of escaping and his thralls capable of sending down the ship, not merely crippling it. One turbine more . . .

So, she got cocky; she got lazy. She got his game wrong somewhere, forgot bluffs can have bluffs.

She should've known better, yes, but known _what_?


	9. Thor 2

"_It's too late. It's too late to stop it."_

"_No. We can. Together."_

" _. . . Sentiment."_

* * *

The wound is small – a puncture, mere spider's bite. Small, but stinging of treachery and, heart clenching, Thor thinks, "Ah. So this is how it ends."

"_That knife is as long as my finger, brother!"_

"_With it I could fell a man twice your size."_

"_With sorceress poisons." _

"_Well, _yes_."_

They had called Loki's methods cowardly and dishonorable, but never ineffective. So Thor does not understand why he still stands, fit and well.

Later he will return and find the dagger, and on it find no trace of poison. Thor will not understand, yes but he'll _hope_ –


	10. Bruce

_"[The Tesseract] is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."_

* * *

Often, Bruce likes to consider vaccines: the peculiar notion that something harmful can help in the end.

They're eating Shawarna in restaurant with rubble for a view. No one speaks, but their fatigue is hard and hollow, held out, nothing like defeated - they're going to build this city back, they're going to build it _stronger_.

Bruce thinks of other worlds and then the Earth, blue and green, defenseless in space. He thinks of the Avengers. "We're the white blood cells," he thinks suddenly, "and we know you now. Next time? Next time, we'll be ready."


	11. Tony 2

_"He knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."_

* * *

This might surprise some people - well, most people - but Tony actually happens to think like a scientist, okay? People misuse the word "theory", and it absolutely doesn't drive him up the wall because he's no pedant. But.

A scientific theory works only so long as the facts support it.

Now, Loki's loud and dramatic, all show, but for whom? Come the final battle the theater's empty because someone called fire. The arsonist preforming for the firemen, what's the point to that?

Tony would be a fool to ignore the facts.

He isn't a fool.


	12. Steve

_"He made it personal."_

_"That's not the point."_

_"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"_

_"To tear us apart."_

* * *

Loki tried to hurt them, and he did; but Loki tried to break them and he _didn't._ They came back, together, came back _stronger. _Twenty-four hours ago they weren't a team, Steve isn't even sure they could have been called heroes. More like super-powered children, too busy fighting over who got a turn on the swings to notice they were tearing down the playground.

Steve doesn't believe in gloating, but it takes all of his restraint not to tell Loki in a jaunty voice, "Thanks, we sure couldn't have done it without you."


	13. Loki 3

_"If it's all the same to you. I'll have that drink now."_

* * *

The scepter lies discarded, the presence gone. _Gone – _like gravity has lifted, and moving your mind is so light now, the movements of your muscles pained and light.

Perhaps you should stop smiling, as it seems to be upsetting the mortals.

You could not care less. If Odin were here at the moment, or Thanos, you would delight in giving them the Midgardian gesture known as "the Finger." If your bones were a bit less broken, you would dance.

Because everything hurts, the city's rubble, Thor hates you, and it doesn't matter.

Because you failed; because_,_ you _won_.

.

.

.

* * *

a/n: These drabbles were all inspired by a lovely piece of meta on tumblr by xparrot about Loki's plan in Avengers entitled "assembling the Avengers and (yet another) of Loki's master plans." I would highly recommend reading it - it's fascinating and very well thought out.

Thank you for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts, now that it's done!


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